1985 Camry Park Lights Stay On

[vulcan500rider]

Hi guys!

I'm at my absolute wit's end with my little 1985 Camry. All of a sudden the car has decided that my park lights (including side markers front + back, and license plate lights) should never shut off. To me, that suggests a burnt out relay of some kind, so I set about pulling every relay I could find...but the lights refused to shut off.

For background, I believe that this car has had some electrical problems in the past, as evidenced by redone wires and electrical tape everywhere. This compounds my problem, of course, as it could be someone else
's F-up that led to this problem and I would never know. Unfortunately, I only bought it about a year and a half ago to replace my 1984 Camry that had just about rusted out from under me.

The only related problem I have had with the 85 is a drain problem, but that may well be related to bad battery. I replaced it early this winter, and the problem disappeared.

Any thoughts? I've been scouring every wiring diagram and taking every opportunity I can get to try to fix this for the past couple of weeks, but have had no success. All I could find was that all the lights are on the same, singular circuit (according to a Haynes manual), which makes perfect sense, but doesn't help me diagnose anything. I can always continue driving it and just disconnect the negative terminal any time that I park it, but that's awfully inconvenient...especially if I forget to do it at some point.

Please help, if you can. It would be very much appreciated.
Thanks!

[Kep]

I can't say that I have any experience with this but wouldn't the steering wheel switch be the more likely culprit? If you can get to the in-line connector and unplug it (should be close to the steering column) and the lights go out that should suggest the switch mechanism.

I see them for sale on eBay from time to time. If you do decide to buy another one, hook the new one up before removing the old one from the steering column. If the problem goes away, then tear the steering wheel apart. If the problem is there with the replacement part then it is something else or the replacement is bad as well.

Kep

[vulcan500rider]

Thanks for the reply, Kep. I've tried the switch, and even disconnected the combination switch entirely....but the lights stay on. It doesn't make much sense...but that doesn't seem to stop it at all...

[vulcan500rider]

Well, I figured it out. My Dad pointed out that quite often command start causes park lights to come on. I dug out the service invoices that the previous owner gave me with car, and lo and behold...A command start had indeed been installed. After digging for a while under the dash, I found it sitting in a hammock of wires. I disconnected it, and off go the park lights...Problem solved.